The violent anti-government demonstrations in Turkey against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan were inevitable. The demolition of Istanbul’s popular Gezi Park near Taksim Square was simply the tipping point for long-simmering animosity toward Erdogan and his Islamic-based Peace and Development Party, in power since 2002.

Although Erdogan has denounced the protestors as looters and fringe extremists doing the bidding of his political opponents, the massive and spontaneous anti-Erdogan demonstrations all over Turkey make it abundantly clear the protests are about something far more profound. (The interior minister said demonstrations took place in 67 cities with hundreds injured.)

What is now at stake in Turkey are two diametrically different views of what kind of society Turks want to live in. The widespread anti-government unrest is a direct manifestation of tensions within Turkish society over what are perceived as Erdogan’s efforts to Islamize the Turkish population by rolling back the secular system established by Kemal Ataturk after coming to power in 1923.

Until Erdogan took office, the country’s secular system was ensured by the Turkish military but Erdogan in recent years has been able to neutralize the army, increasing his own power in the process.

And despite Attatuk’s legacy, much of the population remains highly devout, especially in the countryside. They have been the bedrock of support for Erdogan, electing his party three times in a row, the last time with a solid majority, reducing the need for the prime minister to adopt policies that would appeal to other parties, especially the secular-minded Republican People’s Party.

Free to pursue his own desired policies, the acerbic and autocratic prime minister has operated as if the views of others were of little consequence, only an occasional irritant. This was evident recently when the Shiite/Alawite population of Turkey’s Hatay province strongly opposed his support for the Syrian rebels fighting against President Bashar Assad’s Alawite-dominated regime.

But what has increasingly infuriated Turkish secularists and other liberal-minded Turks have been Erdogan’s attempts to undermine the secular system, employing measures introducing greater emphasis on the Muslim religion within society, including the previously off-limits educational system. And Erdogan’s measures to place restrictions on the sale and availability of alcohol have angered many Turks in a country where the national drink, raki, is very popular, even among Erdogan supporters.

More troubling, Erdogan’s actions to muzzle a free press and the media, including imprisoning journalists under dubious security laws, have generated suspicion and animosity.

In December, the respected Reporters Without Borders released its finding concerning journalists imprisoned in Turkey. According to its report, “with a total of 72 media personnel currently detained . . . Turkey is now the world’s biggest prison for journalists — a sad paradox for a country that portrays itself a regional democratic model . . . The number of detained journalists is unprecedented since the end of military rule . . .”

Erdogan also is accused of using Turkey’s tax system to threaten media owners and enforce their co-operation.

In an interview with Germany’s Deutsche Welle during International Press Freedom Day on May 3, prominent Turkish journalist Ragip Duran, who has worked for the BBC, accused the Erdogan government of imprisoning journalists without actual sentences being levied.

“In Turkey, you can’t speak of independent and free journalism . . . journalists are not allowed to oppose (Erdogan).”

And even Erdogan’s supporters, including devout Muslims and like-minded conservatives, complain about his lack of consultation regarding the safeguarding of heritage sites in Istanbul. Whole neighbourhoods have been evicted in order to build new upscale highrises and other structures. One of Istanbul’s major heritage experts bemoaned the fact he no longer recognizes the city he grew up in.

Erdogan has dismissed the countrywide demonstrations as of no real consequence. When asked whether he had received “the message” from the mass anti-government unrest, he angrily retorted, “What message?”

But his more pragmatic colleague, President Abdullah Gul, has taken a different tack, saying, “The views that are well intentioned have been read, seen and noted and the messages have been received.”

Whether Erdogan is capable of adopting the same open-minded attitude toward the nationwide protests could have extremely important implications in coming days for Turkey’s people.

Harry Sterling is an Ottawa-based commentator and former diplomat who served in Turkey.

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